


Sunblock and Sea Witches

by lockerpaint



Category: Majo no Takkyuubin | Kiki's Delivery Service
Genre: Crush, F/M, but a certain someone is so thick-headed that a mallet couldn't make him realize
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2020-05-19 07:31:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19352341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lockerpaint/pseuds/lockerpaint
Summary: A teenage Kiki comes to visit Tombo for the summer, equipped with a gift and a brand new swimsuit. Tombo is surprised by both.





	Sunblock and Sea Witches

Kiki gasped as the wave hit her knees, splashing water up onto her bare stomach. She pursed her lips and let a shiver make its way up her spine before turning back towards the shoreline.

“Tombo!” she yelled out, “You didn’t tell me it’d be so cold!”

The boy in question, who had laid out a beach towel on top of the hot summer sand, held in a laugh. “Kiki, you know it’s always cold!” 

“Yeah, but not this cold,” she grumbled, taking another step in.

“Get out if it’s so miserable!”

“And let you gloat? I’d rather freeze.” With that, Kiki held her arms out like an airplane and let herself fall backwards into the crisp green sea.

Tombo shook his head a little, smiling as he rustled through his bag for his book. Kiki had brought him a new anthology on aviation as a “welcome back” present (even though he had told her it was supposed to work the other way ‘round), with glossy colored pages and a thick hardback cover.

He had practically wanted to kiss her when she gave it to him. He had missed her more in those past few months than he usually did. Although she was only a day’s flight from the sleepy beachside city he still called home, witch training kept her too far busy to make anything other than occasional weekend trips.

So when she had showed up early and unannounced yesterday morning, with firm intentions to stay the whole summer, he had been unable to hold back his grin.

As he made his way slowly through the book’s introduction, he couldn’t help but let his eyes wander up to watch Kiki splashing and kicking. There was little grace to her movements, but her long legs still caught his eye like fish leaping from the water. She had warmed up to the ocean quick enough, laughing and diving without so much as a glance back at him.

The bikini was as unexpected as her arrival. Not that Kiki didn’t look good in it, with the bright red punctuating the rosiness of her cheeks. She certainly did. She looked amazing. But Tombo felt as though he couldn’t look at her too directly in it. 

Thinking this, he blushed and closed his eyes, reminding himself to get back to the book.

“Tombo!” Kiki yelled, her head poking up from under the waves, “Come in and join me!”

“Oh, no, Kiki, I’m good!”

“Coward! The water’s not that bad!”

“But you told me it was too cold!”

Kiki sputtered slightly. “You can’t hold me to that!”

Tombo laid back onto the blanket, resting the open book over his face to shade it from the sun.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to sleep! It isn’t even noon!”

Tombo didn’t respond. The sun felt so good on his arms and legs. It was almost worth the hot and peeling skin that would doubtlessly come of it. Idly, he considered getting up to slather on some sunblock—

And then the book was ripped from his face.

“Wake up sleepyhead. You’re going to waste the whole day.”

“Kiki, you’re going to get the book wet!” he gasped, sitting up with a start.

“I’m dry,” she said with a shrug, throwing the book back at his chest. This was a boldfaced lie, but the glossy cover shook off the seawater with a few swipes. “Why won’t you come into the water with me, Tombo?”

“It’s too cold.”

“You’ll get used to it!”

“Well, I’ll be cold when I get out of the water.”

“Please! It’s got to be at least 100 degrees! I’m practically boiling. You can see the steam coming off my skin!”

“The waves seem rough.”

“I’ll hold on to you.”

Tombo blushed at the thought. Or he would have if his face wasn’t already red from the sun.

“I didn’t put sunscreen on my back. I’ll burn alive.”

“I’ll put it on you.”

Without waiting for his answer, Kiki grabbed her bag and pulled out a tube of thick, greasy sunblock, squeezing it into her hands.

“Take off your shirt,” she said, palms full.

He didn’t disobey. He pulled off his striped shirt quickly, revealing shoulders littered with the freckles of past summers.

Never one to hesitate much, Kiki slapped his back, spreading the sunblock with widespread hands. 

Why did this bother Tombo so much? He couldn’t figure it out. This was the same Kiki as last winter, and last summer, and the summer before that! The same Kiki who held onto him as he biked down hillsides. The same Kiki who shared her umbrella with him during July thunderstorms. The same Kiki who had held his hands and wrists as she taught him to knead bread, as she showed him how to crack his knuckles, as she caught him from the air and lowered him safely to the ground. There was nothing special, nothing different in this moment, in this day, in this summer. She was Kiki. Why did his stomach jump so much?

“I may have used too much sunblock,” Kiki laughed, smearing the extra on her thighs.

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Tombo said, relieved yet somehow disappointed that she was done so quickly. “I’ll do my chest fast.”

Kiki nodded seriously, watching the waves crash as Tombo finished up. Her short hair rippled in the ocean breeze, curling slightly at the ends as it dried. 

Tombo felt indecent, but couldn’t figure out why. His swim trunks weren’t any shorter or tighter than last year’s, and he never swam with a swimming shirt. Kiki was wearing less, sure, but barely even that, with the high-waisted bottoms and thick straps up top. Tons of the girls his year wore less. Maybe, he thought as he took off his glasses, he had just gotten used to wearing thick winter sweaters.

“You done?” Kiki said, grabbing his hand and tugging at it. Another skipped heartbeat.

“Yeah.”

They ran down the beach, colliding into the waves like cliffsides. Kiki hadn’t been wrong, the water was frigid, but as he gripped her hand tighter, he could feel the sun’s heat trapped between their palms. Slowly, that heat spread throughout his whole body.

“You all warmed up yet?” Kiki asked, pulling Tombo towards her as they treaded water.

“Just about.”

“Good.” She dunked him beneath the surface, sending water up his nose.

He forced his eyelids open. Underwater, with no glasses and irritated eyes, he couldn’t make out much. He looked upward, and saw Kiki’s legs stretching down like sunbeams. Her toes felt for his shoulders, standing on them like stilts as his feet hit the seafloor.

He yanked one of her ankles down.

The two of them resurfaced seconds later, both gasping slightly. Then the gasps turned to laughter as they made their way a little closer to the shore, where they could stand.

Kiki rested her head on Tombo’s shoulder, her breathing slowing slightly.

He sure hoped she’d been honest when she said she’d stay all summer.


End file.
